Morris tribune., 1887-06-01
POINTS ON POISONS.
HOW DEADLY DOSES ARE DlsTRlB-
uTED THROUGH THE SYSTEM.

go more directly into the blood. Certain
poisons, called irritant ones, are deleteri-
GUS by mechanical means. For instance,
sulphuric acid or yitriol kills by the de-
struction it occasions to the stomach and
other parts with which it comes in con-
tact, and is a good example of an irritant
poison. Others when swallowed are alb
sorbed just as food is, and produce bad
results i'll that way. On the other hand,
those poisons which kill by being directly
introduced into the blood are, as a rule,
quicker and more yirulent in their action
Prussic acid, in the form of gas, causes
death almost instantly if it be inhaled
because in the lungs it is taken up imme-
diately by the blood, and there is, conse-
quently, no antidote which can be used
soon enough. The venom of serpents is
one of the poisons which must be INTRO
duced directly into the circulation to pro-
duce bad results. If it he swallowed it
produces no hurtful sequences whatever,
because in undergoing the process of di-
geStion and absorption its character Is SO
much altered that 1t is 10 longer poison.
Savages who poison their war imple
ments with scrpents' venom are in the
habit of tasting the mixtures to determine
| whether or not it has the right degree of
strength They know very well that in
the mouth it has no bad effect, but when
the skin is pricked with the weapon the
blood soon courses through the veins like
liquid fire.
ZYMoTIC DISEASES.
The blood, just as any other part of the
body, will decay if separated from the
body, and if any putrid matter gets into
it then it is liable to undergo decomposi-
ton, which destroys its property of carry
ing the nutritive products prepared by di-
gestion to the tissues. The term blood
poison, it will be seen, is quite compre-
hensive term. In all diseases which are
''blood Diseases" SO called, or Zymotic
diseases, the blood is poisoned, that is, it
contains morbid elements which, being
distributed by the blood to all parts of the
body, cause the disease to be maintained.
rheumatism is due to the presence in
the blood of an excess of OXal&te of lime.
Jaundice is occaSiOned by bile i'll the
blood, staining the tissues yellow. Ure-
mia is uric acid in the blood, and so on
throughout the list. Now, in all these
diseases, the blood may be said to be
poisoned Typhoid fever, small poX,
cholera, typhus fever, CHAMBERS in lower
animals, hydrophobia, diphtheria, all
have the blood poisoned by the peculiar
virus of the disorder Although these are
all of them true blood poisoning, the term
as generally understood is applied to
putrid matter entering the circulation
from wound. This occurs from all
kinds of wounds, both from accidental
injury and wounds made by the surgeon
| in operation.
Surgeons recognize two forms, called by
them py9mia and scptictemia. Both
forms of the disease are caused by the en-
trance into the blood of poisonous ma
terial resulting from putrefaction in a
wound. There has been much discussion
and numerous experiments on animals in
an endeavor to find how the poisonous
product gained access to the circulation,
and it is now generally believed that it
enters the divided ends of the vessels at
the wound; that i'll PyGmia the vessels
ulcerate at the point where the wound is,
and that small pieces of the liberated ma
| terial break off and are carried along with
| the stream of blood until they reach some
point, as the lungs or liver, where the
vessels are so small that these pieces, or
| emboll as they are called, can not pass
through ugh: They lodge here. and are the
starting point for internal Assesses. IN
| death from pyRmia examination of the
| body shows numerous assesses through
| OuI lIe tItuC DOuy, IIC AlSuA tiLu ShCA
| the brain not escaping. Py2mia COM
monty results from suppuratiny wound,
and rarely manifests itself until the end
of the second week after the injury was
received, while septic9ma sets i'll within
| 4S hours of the receipt of the injury.
THE PRESENCE OF PUS.
1t is now we'll known that the presence
| Of pus in wound is due to q small organ
| tcv,, &c in fha otnlnS.nLarn and which
entering the wound, mult;plies and causes
the supperation to commence. In the
| present day, since the discovery of this
| fact, care is taken by surgeons to get pure
| air during an operation, and to. use sOlu-
tions which at once destroy these organ
I tSms If they should come in contact with
the wound. And-when such precautions
nre used the most extensive operations
| freaJlently heal without the formation of
| drop of pus, putting the chance of blood
| poisoning out OF the question. :.r.
BY far the largest number of cases of
blood poisoning which come to the notice
| of the public are those in which the victim
| is q physician who has slightly wounded
| himself in dissccting or holding post
mortem examination. 1t would seem that
| the greatest danger would be in working
with body in which decomposition was
| advanced considerably; but the fact is
| that these wounds are most dangerous if
made while examining q body soon after
death, and the danger Of poisoning lessons
as decomposition advances. Thus it is
that physicians arc frequently the subject
| of this disease. They examine bodies soon
after death, either to gain knowledge of
the cause of death in obscure cases, in
| coroners' cases, or by request of friends,
and their lives frequently is the reward.
| The wound may he made by the point
| of a knife or tip of n needle, and, at
times, heals up without any trouble; but
| the first unusual activity or exercise re-
| news the inflammation, with absorption
| of poisonous material following. The
blood of victim to blood poisoning is
| found to literally swarm with micro
| scopical organizations mentioned above,
| and the bodies of those who die of it are
| found to :decompose much sooner than
! usual -g<.. Oh. ESQ. r.
| 1t seems that these organizations, which
| are known under the general name of
| bacteria, are very active and may DE taken
! into the system in decomposcd food Or by
| inhalation of impure air. The writer re-
members lecturer who demonstrated
| this action. He showed under the micro
scope specimen of his blood, then n drop
| OF water out OF glass IN Which had lain
for several days piece of putrid meat.
| The water was alive with bacteria. He
| then drank the water and two days after
ward appeared, and, drawing drop of
blood from his finger, showed it full Of
the organisms before present in the water.
| He recovered after few days of illness.
| 1t was splendid demonstration, but one
which few would care to undertake.
Pittsburg Dispatch.
Getting Out of Scrape.
Said an old veteran and prominent
business man: "You would not believe it,
but at one time / was member of one
Of the military bands in the old army.
Tt so happened that the regiment to which
our band was attached was sent to Fort
Pulaski. We were on one of the gun
boats maneuyerfng In, that region, and on
one occasion imposing up the river, which
had several outlet channels or mouths,
the boat ran up the wrong channel, one
80 narrow that it did not permit turn of
the boat except under the very guns of
the rebels The officer in command soon